1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an energy conserving video monitoring system for monitoring a remote location at a distance. In particular this invention relates to an apparatus and method to view a remote location with a battery powered camera that uses a minimum of energy.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Often times there is a need to remotely monitor a location. For example there may be a need to monitor an elderly person or a young child. It may be desirable to remotely monitor for the presence of mail in a mail box as in applicant's own U.S. Pat. No. 6,879,255. Or it may be desirable to remotely monitor equipment, wildlife or for security for example. In many of these applications there may not be power readily available and a remote camera may need to operate on batteries. In these situations a common problem is that the camera battery can run out of power fairly quickly forcing the user to travel to the remote location to replace a battery. Solar power can be used but can be expensive and unreliable in many locations.
Applicant's prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,879,255 provides a system for remotely monitoring for mail in a mailbox. The system provides a battery 16 for a remote camera 18 in the mailbox. The system provides a sleep mode, where the camera 18 and lights are not on all the time, only when needed to conserve battery power. But it has been found that the system still draws significant power in sleep mode, waiting for a signal from transmitter 38 to turn the camera on.
As can be seen, there is a need for a remote monitoring system that will use less power and thus require less effort to operate.